Not Just a Video Game
by inkoftwilight
Summary: It was just Gazzy's video game. It was harmless, and a bit annoying to me. Until that freak storm happened and the Voice came in. Now we're living it and trying to survive. But now everything's different. So we barely know what's going on anymore...
1. The Storm

**Despite NaNoWriMo and my other stories, I'm gonna start this one. It takes place after MAX. It came to me when I drew a picture of the Wonder Chef trying to teach Max how to cook…and eventually screaming at her.**

**I also bumped up their ages a bit. So, here:**

**Max, Fang, Iggy: 17**

**Nudge: 14**

**Gazzy and Angel: 12 Yes, I made them twins. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own MR or ToS. I used to have a copy of ToS. And then my friend broke it…**

**Max**

It was just the Gasman'svideo game. It was harmless, and a bit annoying to me. Until that freak storm happened and the Voice came in. Now we're living it and trying to survive. But with us coming in, almost everything is different. Including the villains…

Carefully balancing all six hot chocolates on the plastic tray, I maneuvered my way to the boys' room in my mom's house. We decided to take a break here before heading off on another charity trip.

Iggy groaned behind me. "Hurry up! Gazzy's waiting to start the final battle!"

I rolled my eyes. While we were staying here Gazzy found this game for the GameCube called Tales of Symphonia that he and Iggy had become addicted to. They had gotten near the end, and I was just hoping they didn't play it over again.

I hurried to their room after Iggy's complaining.

"It's ready guys!" I called out. The flock all ran up to take their drink eagerly. Thunder boomed outside and rattled the window. I took a sip of the cocoa and stared out the window.

"You guys sure you're not gonna get electrocuted or something in this weather?" I looked at them sternly.

Gazzy shook it off. "Don't worry Max. We've played in worse. Now come on. You said you'd play, too right?"

I groaned. Due to excessive Bambi Eyes, I was now forced to play in the last battle. Nudge and Angel nestled in the covers with Total in on of the boys beds with their drinks to watch. I took my place next to Fang (yes, sadly he was into it too) as Gazzy started it up.

After we sat through the opening thing we had to sit through a whole bunch of other scenes, because the girls wanted to see them. See, what the boys did is they would save their file onto another blank file so if something funny happened they could go back and watch it. Even if some of them were funny, I still complained.

So after we watched all those scenes, I was relived when Gazzy picked the original file. Lloyd, the kid in red, was standing in a corner on a save point in some dark, medieval looking castle. Gazzy made the menu pop up so that he was Genis, Iggy was Zelos (how he plays the game I will never know), Fang was Lloyd, and I got to be Sheena.

Genis walked up the stairwell and ran into a giant dragon. It growled something about being the guardian of the key or whatever, and then the screen crashed and shattered to show a battle.

"Hey! I thought I only had to play for the final battle!" I yelled as I ran up to it and started attacking.

Iggy shrugged. "You think we knew about this?"

They did. I can see it in their eyes. But I played anyways and we beat the dragon thing real quick. And then when they went out the door, they all had to have a heart to heart moment that lasted about five minutes before they walked on the teleporting thingy to Mithos. Then they talked some _more_ before they finally fought.

At least they have good voice actors though. They put some emotion into it. As it turns out, the final battle is really hard. We all died a couple times, and by the time we got to his true form, we were out of everything but apple gels and were relying on Iggy to heal everyone. But we didn't make it and were killed brutally.

On our third try, my mom and sister had gotten back from the store and the storm was getting worse.

Mom and Ella were watching like Nudge, Angel, and Total. Once again we were running low on supplies.

"Crap! I died again." Gazzy sighed and healed me with a life bottle.

"How about you try guarding yourself?" Iggy snapped.

"How about you try shutting up?" Lightning flashed and the thunder boomed louder. The rain pounded on the window so that we could barely hear the game. Fang turned it up.

"Shouldn't you guys be getting off?" My mom asked.

"Mom, we just got to his final form. We're almost done."

Once more lightning flashed. But we were almost done. Sheena got knocked back and went into overlimit.

"Yes!" I backed up and summon the darkness guy, Shadow. As the spell finished and Fang died from Judgment, lightning flashed again at the same time thunder boomed and nearly popped my eardrums. The screen flashed white and the controller shot electricity up my arms and all across my body.

I screamed, and I think the others did too. The light grew brighter until it took up the whole room and all I saw was the white light. I prayed to God I wasn't dead as I passed out.

I felt grass below me. A small breeze blew, causing my hair to blow in my face. When I opened my eyes, I saw a pretty blue sky above me. But there was a scent that the wind carried. Smoke? I couldn't be sure. As I recapped what happened, my mind went on high alert.

On my feet in seconds, I scanned my surroundings. I was in a plain, to my right, not to far away, I'm pretty sure the flat grass turned to a desert. My mind was whirling and my body ached. Then I realized a weight on my hip. I looked down and stared.

There is a wooden sword. It's in a sheath. On my hip. I have a sword. Why do I have a sword? That wasn't the only thing different, either. Over a light blue long sleeved cut off shirt was a dark blue strapless shirt. I had on white pants and my black combat boots. And the sword. Can't forget the sword.

_What's going on?_ I thought to myself.

I looked to my left, and saw Fang and Angel. Relief washed through me.

"Fang! Angel!" I yelled to them and ran over to where they were laying. Fang's dark eyes snapped open and he was on his feet immediately. Angel just sat up sleepily and slowly looked around. They were different too.

Fang had a full black outfit, a long sleeved shirt, boots, pants…and a cape. Yes, Fang had a cape. He grabbed the fabric in his hands and stared. Angel and I giggled.

"What...?" And then he also noticed the huge sword underneath it. And it was _huge_. I mean, the handle was a bit shorter than him, and half as wide as his chest.

Angel was in a white shirt, skirt, and black tights with white boots. She had a dagger clipped to her waist. I shook my head to clear it.

_Where are we?_ I thought, still not seeing the rest of the flock.

_Oh, I think you know._ The Voice mused back. I was too confused to say anything back. The sun shone brighter as it came out from behind a cloud. When I used my hand to shield my eyes, a glint of blue caught my eye. I stared at my hand.

An exsphere was on my hand. Fang caught my eye and stared too. But he had one, and so did Angel. I faintly heard someone call out to us. Turning around there was a boy in red and a younger boy with him.

Why the hell are we in Sylvarant?

**Why does Fang have a cape, you ask? Because he's just that bad ass. But this is the first chapter, so click the little review button down there and tell me what you think. Bye for now!**


	2. To Triet

**Max**

I stared at Lloyd and Genis, then at Fang to see if he saw them too. He was staring back at me, and had a confused look on his face.

We shared a glance. "Is that…" Fang nodded.

But Angel grinned like nothing was wrong and walked up to the two boys. "Hello!" She chirped.

Fang and I walked up cautiously behind her. Lloyd and Genis smiled back at her.

"Hey," Lloyd said to Angel. Then he looked up at me. I noticed that his clothes were dirty and his face was smudged with dirt.

_Lloyd's pretty cute_, I thought to myself. My eyes flicked to Fang guiltily. God Max, snap out of it. Lloyd's a video game character. Angel giggled in the back of my mind, but I ignored her. This has to be a dream. That's it, I'm dreaming.

_It's not a dream Maximum_, my Voice said to me. I ignored it.

"Are you guys alright?" Lloyd asked. "We saw you all get up from the ground."

"Yeah, we're fine." We just woke up in a fake world and half my flock is missing. No, I'm not freaking fine. "What happened to you guys though?"

Lloyd looked down at his feet. Genis bit his lip.

This is right at the beginning isn't it? Where the designs burn down their town or something.

"The desians attacked our town and burnt a lot of it down." Genis explained. "We were blamed and banished."Called it!

"Why would it be your fault?" Angel asked sweetly, even though she already knew.

Lloyd shrugged. "Well, we were messing around the ranch just yesterday, so they punished the whole town for it."

"I'm sorry." I said out of sympathy.

Lloyd shrugged again.

"Are you guys heading to Triet?" Fang asked a few moments later to break the silence.

The two boys both perked up. "Yeah!" Lloyd said, a bit overenthusiastically if you ask me. "We were going to ask you, have you seen a few friends of ours? A blond girl my age, a woman that looks like Genis here, and an obnoxious guy in purple?" Genis rolled his eyes when Lloyd described Kratos.

I shook my head. "No, sorry." They both deflated a bit.

"Oh. Well, where are you guys headed?" Lloyd asked.

_Go with them_. The Voice told me.

_Why should I? They're video game characters_. I shot back.

_Tales of Symphonia is not just a video game, Maximum_. He (she?) said back calmly. _Besides, going with them will lead you to the rest of the flock_.

"Max!"

I jumped at Fang's voice. "What?" I looked around, and everyone was staring at me.

"Oh, sorry. Zoned out for a second. But we're headed to Triet too." If the flock might be there, that's where we're going. Fang raised an eyebrow at me. I shrugged.

Genis smiled. "Cool. We'll go ahead and go together then."

Angel grinned, making anyone smile back. "Great!"

We walked off towards the desert together. "I'm Lloyd by the way," he introduced, having no idea we already knew that. "And the little shrimp over there is Genis."

Genis glared at him. Angel giggled. "I'm Angel, that's Fang, and then that's Max." She gestured to both of us.

_Angel,_ I thought. _Why did you use real names?_

_Max, what's the harm?_

I sighed. Lloyd walked up close to my side. He was just about my height. "So where do you guys live?"

I mentally cringed. "Um…"

_Luin_, the Voice whispered in the back of my mind.

"Luin," I repeated. "We take supplies to different towns. We were taking some to Iselia when we met you guys."

Genis stared at me. "If you were on your way there, then where are the supplies?" Stupid Genis and his brain…

"We were on our way back, she meant." Fang said from the other side of me.

"Oh," Lloyd said. Then he grinned at me. "That must be pretty cool, seeing all of those different places."

I couldn't help but grin back. "Yeah, it's great," I lied.

Fang made a noise in the back of his throat and laced his fingers through mine. I gave him a weird look that he ignored.

About a half an hour of more walking, and we made it to the desert. I was aching to just take off running and whip out my wings, but that might raise some red flags with Lloyd and Genis.

It turns out Genis is just as much a know-it-all, and Lloyd is just as stupid as in the game. But they were still pretty nice and were funny to watch. But they're still just video game characters. And I'm not going to join them on their little journey. All we're going to do is find the rest of the flock, and then find out how to get back our world.

We could see Triet on the horizon when we were attacked by monsters.

Those monsters just happened to be a large group of snakes. Lloyd grinned as he saw them heading towards us in the sand.

He pulled out his wooden swords. "Piece of cake!" He said and ran straight into the pack. Genis started to cast. I bit my lip.

Not only do I hate snakes, but the two boys are probably expecting me to use my sword. That I have no idea how to use. But Fang and Ang ran right with Lloyd, so I swallowed my fear and ran after them. I mean, it's a sword. Just hack and slash right?

Yeah, it's a lot harder than it seems. I killed one right off by chopping off its head. But most of them would slither out of the way right under me. Luckily, I was quick so none of them bit me. They were a pain, but I did get a couple of them dead.

To me, the best snake is a dead snake.

Genis shot some fire balls to burn a few to crisps (I was almost hit by one though), Lloyd was doing just fine, Angel was doing okay, but she had to get closer to them with her dagger. Fang was dominating with his big ass sword.

We finished off the last of the snakes quickly and left their dead bodies lying in the sand. I looked over the four of them.

"Is everyone okay?" I asked. My eyes went to a deep cut on Lloyd's leg.

He followed my glance. "It's not that bad. I don't think any venom got in," he said.

Angel frowned in thought; I opened my mouth to talk, but instead watched her walk over to Lloyd. She bent down in the sand and closed her eyes, murmuring something under her breath, and then,

"First aid!"

I stared as green light came from Angel's hands and healed the gash on Lloyd's leg. Fang and I shared a glance, but Genis and Lloyd acted like it was nothing out of the ordinary.

Lloyd grinned. "Hey, you're a healer!"

Angel smiled. "Yup!"

We went on walking to Triet. "A healer?" Fang muttered to me.

I shook my head. "I have no idea."

Another half an hour of walking, and we finally arrived at Triet. My feet were killing me, my wings ached, and my stomach was growling.

As we walked into the plaza, I paused. "So, who's hungry?"

Angel's hand shot up. "Me!"

"Well, I guess," Lloyd said.

Genis stared at him. "You guess? You were just complaining about how hungry you were just before we got here!"

Lloyd glared. "Shut up Genis."

Then we walked around the stores to find one that sold food (we also saw a Colette sized hole in one of walls). Lloyd bought some fish and bread, and we started to walk back to the shaded area to eat.

"Hey! You kids!" A man called out to us from his store.

"Yeah?" Lloyd said.

I wasn't as nice. "What do you want?"

"Come over here!"

Lloyd started to walk over, and we all followed behind him.

"What is it?" I asked. "We're kind of hungry."

He gestured to his store of weapons. "Well, as you can see, I'm a blacksmith."

"Yeah…" Genis said.

"Why do we care?" I asked. Fang nudged me in the ribs with his elbow.

The man ignored me. "Well, I can see that your weapons are a bit…outdated."

Outdated? I looked down at my sword. I just got this this morning…

The blacksmith continued. "And with the right products, I would be happy to upgrade them for you, free of charge."

"Where would we get the products?" Lloyd asked.

"Sometimes from monsters, or occasionally desians."

We all shared glances. "Um, no thanks, we're gonna go," I said. The man grabbed my arm as we walked away and smiled.

"Oh, please, it's not as bad as it sounds-."

"Yeah, no."

"Please I insist-."

"Can you let go of me?"

"If you just listen-."

"BACK OFF CREEPER!" I snatched my arm back from him and we all ran off to the shaded area.

After that disturbing encounter, we sat in the shaded area with Lloyd's dog (?) and ate fish sandwiches. I'm not a big fish person, but I've learned not to be picky. When we finished, Lloyd and Genis wanted to ask around about Colette, so we decided to help. Even though the three of us knew we'd have no luck.

Of course, we had no luck, but we did get to see Lloyd's wanted poster and get a good laugh.

The five of us met back up in the patio area.

"Any luck?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

Lloyd and Genis looked disappointed. "No."

Angel tried to cheer them up. "Don't worry, we'll have to see them eventually."

Lloyd smiled. "Yeah I-." A voice cut him off.

"There he is! Lloyd Irving!"

We all whipped around. In the entry way were a handful of desians, armed with crossbows and whips. Maybe meeting in the patio wasn't the best idea with a wanted criminal…

Immediately Lloyd and Genis drew their weapons and Fang, Angel and I followed suit. The desians charged into us. Civilians screamed and ran for cover.

One desian whipped their whip at me, and I caught it easily with my sword. I twisted it out of his grip and ran forward, stabbing him through the stomach with my sword. It made an unsettling _squelch _noise. The man gagged and fell to the ground as I pulled my sword out. My stomach rolled as I stared at the body.

I had killed erasers before…but they weren't really people…

No. None of this is real. I need to focus.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw some desians ganging up on Fang. I immediately ran over to cover his back. We stood back to back fighting, just like always.

A few minutes later and all the desians lay in their pool of blood on the ground. I avoided looking at them and ignored my churning stomach.

Lloyd was panting slightly. "Whew…that was close."

"Maybe next time we-."

I was cut off this time. A bolt of lighting shot out at Lloyd. He screamed as it hit his back and collapsed to the ground.

"Lloyd!" I gasped.

"Max!" Fang called out.

I looked at his shocked expression, and then screamed as I was electrocuted and collapsed.

**Um, funny story, I finished this about a month ago, but I was going to revise it, and then I forgot about it until now…whoopsies.**

**Review anyways? **


	3. Author's Note

Hey guys.

So, you probably hate me for never updating.

Truth is, I've tried. I really have. But my heart isn't with fanfiction like it used to be. I love my stories, I really do, and I want to finish them, but I'm not focused on those right now. I don't have the motivation to write them. I'm sorry about that. There's just nothing I can do right now.

I've been writing original work a lot. I actually just finished the second draft of my first book, and posting that and another story on Wattpad. I might go back to my fanfictions eventually, because I still want to write them, but like I said, that's not where my muse is. I have so many original works just everywhere that I want to work on more.

Sorry guys, I love you all. Eventually I might finish these stories. If you don't want to wait and see, pm me and I'll give you a summary of what happens.

Link of my profile on Wattpad: user/JessicaLeann920

I love you guys. See you.


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